Fruit Crisp

I just found out there has been a change of plans for Fathers Day. My numbers have doubled! So while faced with making, or buying, more ice cream for my original ice cream sundae bar, or maybe making something with the ridiculous amount of berries I have, that are threatening to rot- I thought of this recipe. It may be around here somewhere in the archives, or I may have been stashing it for a rainy day (which it is here). But whatever the case, this is probably the greatest and most often used family recipe, traced back to my Grandma Grace. I have been making this since I was a child (literally) and my own daughter knew what I was making as soon as I took the ingredients out! Pia helps me in the kitchen all of the time, and this is an easy recipe for any child to work on their measuring and stirring, (see below)!

This is just a great standard fruit crisp recipe. Use whatever fruit you want, (from apples or pears in the fall and winter, to berries or peaches- you get the idea). The topping is a crumbly, brown sugar and oatmeal combo made extra crispy with the addition of Crisco.

The pictures are from a triple recipe, (that’s how it goes in my big family!) but the recipe that is below is for a serving that will feed 6-8 depending on your appetite! I made a mixed berry (California strawberries, sliced, blueberries and raspberries) crisp and one made with fresh local (small) whole strawberries.

Fruit Crisp

5 cups fruit, fresh or frozen, sliced or chopped when appropriate
1 cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup oats
½ cup Crisco

2 Tbs butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together until well combined. Add the Crisco and chop with a pastry cutter, or even just use your clean hands and squash it together until it resembles a coarse crumb.

Use a glass baking dish (9×9) and grease the bottom and sides of the dish with about ½ Tbs of the butter. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the crumbly topping on the bottom of the baking dish. Add the fruit, and put the rest of the topping over the fruit. Dot the top of the crisp with little pats of butter, (the other 1 ½ Tbs).

I recommend placing your baking dish on a sheet pan in case the fruit bubbles over. Place the sheet pan in the oven and bake about 45 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden.